League Two: Survival Saturday for bottom four

There is a nine-point cushion between Tranmere in 21st and bottom side Carlisle with five games to go

Four clubs and two matches with potentially huge consequences are set to take centre stage in League Two this Saturday.

With only five games and three weeks of the regular season remaining, the fixture calendar pits 22nd against 21st and 23rd at home to 24th.

Accrington Stanley welcome Tranmere Rovers while 45 miles up the road from east to north Lancashire, Morecambe host bottom side Carlisle United.

Two of these four sides will be playing in the National League next season, so nerves and tension will abound amongst the players and the four sets of supporters.

BBC Sport looks at how the clubs' seasons have led to this point.

Morecambe and Carlisle have occupied the bottom two spots for a combined 69 out of 82 matchdays

The highlight of a difficult season for Accrington was playing Liverpool at Anfield in the FA Cup

Stanley eager to finish job

This has been Accrington's first full season for over a decade without the reassuring presence of John Coleman at the helm.

John Doolan has vast coaching experience but this has been his first job as a number one and it has been a challenging campaign, summed up by small bursts of good form and barren spells.

Defeat away to Cheltenham Town at the start of October left them bottom and without a win, but they then reeled off four wins in six games to ease the pressure.

The ups and downs have remained, but when they thrashed Newport County on 8 March, Stanley had a 10-point cushion over the drop zone.

However, five more matches without a win has reduced the gap over Morecambe to six points and conceding four in successive losses to Fleetwood Town and Bromley will have increased anxiety levels, especially with home games against Tranmere, and Carlisle on Easter Monday, 21 April, to come.

Accrington are one of the smallest EFL clubs, but they have proudly held their place since promotion in 2006 and they do not want a 19-year stay to come to an end.

Doolan told BBC Radio Lancashire: "There's five games left, we're six points clear, it's in our own hands, we can do something about it. That's the beauty of it. We're now chomping at the bit for Saturday."

Tranmere's fine recent run included victory at League Two leaders Bradford City

Caretaker Crosby pulling Rovers out of mire

Forget their lowly position, Tranmere are probably the form team in League Two.

Last Saturday's 4-0 thumping of Chesterfield made it 13 points from their last six games, a run that has come exactly at the right time.

Interim manager Andy Crosby deserves the plaudits because Rovers were in dire trouble when he took the job in late February.

Nigel Adkins had limped on as manager during a bleak winter when the Wirral outfit were short of wins and goals.

Eventually, Adkins was put out of his misery following a home defeat by Saturday's opponents Accrington, on the back of a winless 10-game streak.

That result left them just two points clear of the drop zone and worrying about a return to the National League for the first time since 2018.

Now Crosby's run of one loss in eight will have fans believing that three points at the Wham Stadium will all but guarantee another season of League Two football.

Former Tranmere captain Peter Clarke told BBC Radio Merseyside: "What Andy Crosby has done has been fantastic and the results just recently have been superb. Will they stay up? I think so, yes.

"There is so much going for the club and so many good things in place that it's imperative they stay up and ultimately from this point, they progress forward and get the club back up the leagues."

Morecambe have been in the relegation zone for all but one matchday since August

'Belief' still there for Morecambe

For Morecambe and boss Derek Adams, this season has been a struggle, basically from the moment the last one ended.

A transfer embargo was only lifted in early July and it meant Adams had to quickly scramble a squad together.

Not surprisingly, they did not win any of their first 10 games and only two of their first 16.

Problems with the club's owners again came to light in January as transfers were blocked until funds to see out the season were guaranteed.

Against this backdrop, Adams and his players deserve credit that they are still fighting for survival.

They have spent all bar three matchdays in the bottom two, but they have collected 10 points from their last four home games to stay in the battle.

And they will think if they can beat Carlisle, they are guaranteed to reduce the six-point gap on at least one of the two sides they need to overhaul and generate momentum for the run-in.

Adams told BBC Radio Lancashire: "The belief has always been there. We have pushed a lot of big teams a long way this season. We've dealt with the pressure exceptionally well and we'll have to do that on Saturday.

"We've had to have a group of players come together very quickly and they've done that. We've been unfortunate at times this season, we shouldn't be where we are, but we have to deal with it."

Carlisle have not recorded successive league wins since March 2023

Carlisle need Glass-like escape

In comparison with Saturday's opponents Morecambe, Carlisle have very much been League Two's version of 'all the gear and no idea'.

The club's American owners have thrown lots of money at rectifying the situation, but with 42 players used and on a third permanent boss in Wales legend Mark Hughes, the Blues find themselves in a desperate position.

Eight points from safety, defeat at Mazuma Stadium would mean they can start looking at long hauls to Yeovil, Braintree and Eastleigh in the National League next season.

Coming from two goals down to beat Newport last Saturday at least showed some fight, although to beat the Shrimps, they need to record back-to-back wins for the first time since March 2023.

They have been in the bottom two for all but one matchday since early October and a shambles of a campaign points to relegation.

But if they can escape from this position, the feat would possibly top that of legendary goalkeeper Jimmy Glass and the goal that saved the Blues from relegation in 1999.

Hughes told BBC Radio Cumbria: "We're all aware that it's difficult for us to achieve what we want to achieve but we'll give it our best shot.

"As long as we show that same belief and confidence as we did at 2-0 down last weekend, we've always got a chance."